27 May 2007
A ‘NATO team’ of Serbian officers, a Romanian soldier, and a Hungarian and Romanian student demonstrated the strength of NATO’s partnerships by taking third place in the team competition during the 20-kilometre run in Brussels, 27 May.
Daniel Soos, the Hungarian student in NATO colours, took first place in the under-25 category.
The event was a follow-up to last year’s “NATO Partnership Running Festival", where the Alliance’s Public Diplomacy Division organized a half-marathon between Serbia, a Partner country, and Hungary, a NATO member country.
The winners in the various categories were invited to visit NATO’s civilian and military headquarters in Belgium and to represent the Alliance in the 2007 Brussels 20 km run.
As a result, 15 competitors from Hungary, Romania and Serbia arrived to Brussels on 27 May to take part in the event.
“We are very proud of our runners participating in the Brussels 20 km, as well as the hundreds of runners and thousands of participants that took part in the NATO Partnership Running Festival last year, demonstrating the importance and strength of our partnerships,” said Zsolt Rabai from NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division.
The ‘NATO team’ was made up of NATO Partner and member representatives: two Serbian military officers ( Capt. A.Nesevski and Lt. D.Popovic), a Romanian professional soldier (L. B. Racz), and two students, from Romania (H.T. Csutak) and from Hungary ( D.Soos).
In addition to the team taking third place and Mr. Soos winning the under 25 category, Mr. Csutak took 10th place in the under-25 category.
Among the 15 NATO competitors was Mrs. Krisztina Dora, a successful Hungarian Paralympian, who covered the 20 km distance in her specially designed race-wheel chair.
Photo caption (names of the 15 runners):
G. Benko (Hu), T. Csutak (Ro), H.T. Csutak (Ro), K.Dora (Hu), Sz. Fuzesi (Hu), E. Kiss (Hu), T. Molnar (Hu), Capt. A. Nesevski (Serbia), R. Pasztor (Hu), Lt. D. Popovic (Serbia), L.B. Racz (Ro), B. Sik (Hu), D. Soos (Hu), A. Szabo (Hu), Maj. D. Todorov (Serbia)
